Why We Fight 4: The Battle of Britain

US 1943. PC: 834th Signal Service Photographic Detachment, Special Services Division, U.S. Army. No personal credit titles in the film. [In charge of production: Frank Capra, with a mighty staff of film professionals]. A fine Imperial War Museum print. 42'. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 30 Aug 2005. Impressive footage of Hitler examining the Eiffel Tower starts the film. "Where Napoleon failed I shall succeed". The German military strategy to take Britain is startlingly summarized, with brilliant animation. The German material supremacy is overwhelming, but Britain starts to arm. Churchill: "we shall never surrender". Luftwaffe vs. the RAF is the main action of this film. The ports take terrible pounding. Learning from their allies' mistakes, the Brits keep their planes scattered and hidden. New tacticts: the German bomb factories, change formations. The hell over coastal defenders. Next step: terrorizing London, to demoralize Britain. The Blitz over London, the Luftwaffe's greatest effort. Devastation in London, Buckingham Palace, Fleet Street, St. Paul's Cathedral. Next step: night attacks, to terrorize the people to cry for mercy. People rise in the morning to witness the wreckage. "The British spirit stronger than ever". The RAF starts to counter-attack, targeting Bremen. Hitler cries 1000-fold revenge. Coventry smashed. Montages on work, on life under the Blitz, Christmas in the subway. Next step: millions of fire bombs to burn London. Vital water mains shattered when Thames was at its lowest ebb. This was the people's war, and the people wouldn't panic. The Battle of Britain was won, and not by Hitler. Gone was the legend of their invincibility. Churchill: never in history has so much been accomplished for so many by so few. Very effective propaganda.